Defense chief: CPP ‘crumbling from within’

From Malaya Business Insight (Jan 11): Defense chief: CPP ‘crumbling from within’

DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday dismissed a call of the Communist Party of the Philippines to its members to build an alliance with forces against President Duterte forces and work for his ouster.

Lorenzana assured the public that that the defense and military establishments are going to protect Duterte and the democratic way of life from the CPP and the New People’s Army.

“We will guard the institutions which are sacred to our democratic way of life and not let any group destroy the ideals which our nation’s forefathers fought and died for,” he said.

Duterte started formal talks with the communists shortly after he assumed the presidency in 2016. Four rounds of talks have been held before Duterte suspended and eventually cancelled the peace negotiations because of continued attacks by the NPA on government forces. Last month, he formally declared the CPP and NPA as terrorist organizations.

Last week, the CPP told its members that “Duterte’s overthrow is the most important task at present for the revolutionary forces.”

It urged revolutionary forces to ally with other sectors and groups, including those with “sharp contradictions” with the movement, “to create the widest anti-Duterte alliance.”

Lorenzana said: “This latest statement of the CPP-NPA once again shows how far these communist-terrorists are from the truth and how years of propagating lies have deluded their sense of reality.”

He also said the CPP’s call manifests the communist group’s “desperation since the movement is now crumbling from within.”

“They have already lost their mass-based support and their members are returning to the fold of law as their motives and criminal acts have already been exposed to their former cadres and the entire Filipino nation,” said Lorenzana.

The latest to surrender are two NPA logistics officers and a team leader.

Randy Atong alias Andikon and Renie Atenza alias Ryan surrendered yesterday to the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, said the unit’s civil military operations officer, 1Lt. China Celina Castro.

Castro said Atong is the logistics officer of the Andoy and Basil Platoons of the NPA’s Guerilla Front 51 while Atenza is the leader of the Basil Platoon’s First Squad.

Castro said the two said “they are already tired of fighting against the government forces, coupled with the experience of starvation caused by the dwindling support from their masses, hence they decided to return to the folds of the law.”

In Zamboanga del Sur, another NPA rebel surrendered to the Army’s 53rd Infantry Battalion in Guipos town on Tuesday afternoon, said Maj. Richard Enciso, spokesman of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.

Enciso said the 33-year-old rebel --  identified only as Jaypee, a resident of Pagadian City, is the logistics officer of Squad 3, Team Baking of the NPA operating in the province. He brought with him an AK-47 rifle.

“According to Jaypee, the physical hardships and limited supply of food were the reasons for his surrender,” said Enciso.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/defense-chief-cpp-%E2%80%98crumbling-within%E2%80%99